Fire-extinguisher



C. R. ALEXANDER.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

A APPLICATION FILED FEB.24, 1920.

1,360,070, Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

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CHARLES R. ALEXANDER, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIAQ rrnn-nx'rmsursnnnt Application filed February 24, 192e, seriarno. 366,31

To aZZ whom it may concern,"

Be 1t known that I, CHARLES RALEXAN4 one, a cltizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented FireEXtinguishers, of Which the follow mg a specification. I p

My nvent1on relates to that class of apparatus in which a tank containing a liquid has mounted inor adjacent'it apulnp whereby said liquid may be forcibly expelled, and one object of the present invention is to provide a device of this classwith anovel construe-1 tion and arrangement of parts whereby it shall be possible for a person desiring to operate the apparatus to exert a greater iorce on the pump and produce a stronger, more constant stream than has heretofore been possible in similar devices.

The invention further contemplates fire.

extinguisher or similar device including a pump equipped With a novel form of actuating member especially adapted to serve as or be operatively associated With a seat for an operator, whereby the entire Weight of the latter is made available for actuating the movable pump member.

I further desire to provide novel means for making it possible to conveniently move the. reciprocating element of a fire-extinguisher or other pump on its idle or return stroke; the invention further contemplating means for maintaining a relatively higher pressure of the discharged liquid than Would be possible by operating the pump in the ordinary manner.

Another objector the invention is to pro-. vide a novel form of air container for maintaining substantially constant the discharge oi a pump which container shall be of such form as to be available for use as a seat so that the operator of the pump is enabledto utilize his entire Weight, and if desired add thereto his muscular effort, to move the piston through its Working stroke.

These objects and other advantageous ends I attain as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Whichy Figure 1 is a perspective View illustrating a lire extinguisher embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the ap aratus shown in ig. 1;

lhg. 3 is a verticalsection of a seat and its associated parts illustrating a modified form of the device; and

sheet or cast material.

Specification of Lettersyatent. Patent d N 23 1920 Figs 1- and 5 are modifications of my invention.

1n. the above drawings, 1 represents a metalor other tank made of material suitable for containing any fire extinguishing llquld such as carbon tetrachlorid, although Water or other desired liquid may be em-, ployed 1f the apparatus is desired for other purposes. This tankhas a removable cover 2 threaded onto it, and carrying a pump Whoseelongated cylinder extends vertically Within said tank.

Operative Within the pump cylinder is a piston a mounted 011 the lower end of a tubular piston rod 5 which extends through and above the cover 2 where it has mounted on its upper end an operators seat 6. This may be hollow as shown in Fig. 2, or as in the other forms of the invention, may be made of a single thickness of light, strong In the case shown in Fig. 2, the tubular the air chamber provided by this hollow seat and has suitably connected to it, prefen ably adjacent the piston 4:, a check valve 7 whereby fluid, While free to flow from the tank out through said rod, is not permitted to return.

The lower end of the cylinder has perforations 8 opening into the bottom of the tank land above these is provided with a :loot valve 9 whereby liquid is free to enter but is prevented from leaving the lower end of the cylinder. The latter adjacentthe top of the tank also has openings 10 to permit of the escape into the tank of any air or liquid above the piston. A delivery pipe 11 isconnected to the hollow interior of the seat 6, and While for convenience of operation and manufacture, it enters the side of this seat, it is extended inwardly and turned down so that its entrance is immediately adjacent the lowest portion of the cavity thereof.

The delivery conduit 11 is preterablvmade of flexible tubing having a suitable nozzle .lfi and at that portion oi. the edge of the seat 6 immediately adjacent the point at Which the conduit is connected, Iprovide means such as the links 17 for the attach ment of a strap or flexible band 18 designed to fit around the neck or be otherwise attached to the body of an operator on the seat6. a i WVith the above described arrangement of vertical sections of other piston rod 5 opens into.

parts; the tank is filled with any desired liquid, and when designed for use as a fire extinguisher its capacity is preferably such that it will hold considerably more than the ordinary portable form of fire extinguisher. In order to put the apparatus in use, an

operator seats himself upon the member 6 and places the band 18 around his neck so that it passes across t'he'ifront of his body,

his legs extending on either side of theconduit 11 The combined height of the tank and seat 6 is such that by thereafter rising to his full height, the operator will draw said seat with him so as to raise the piston 4 to the top of the cylinder 3, whereupon by resting his weight upon the seat 6; he is enabled to exert a steady uniform pressure on the piston and expel in a steady, easily directed stream, the liquid previously drawn into the cylinder upon'its upward movement.

In view of the construction of the foot valve 9, this flow of liquid takes place through the piston rod 5, seat 6 and delivery i conduit l1,- from which t is discharged through the nozzle l5;-it being noted that said seat in this case serves as a pressure chamber to steady and maintain thestreani of liquid delivered. If the seat be made shown in Fi 3 instead of hollow as in Fig.

2; the liquidpasscs directly from the upper end of the tubular piston rod 5 through the fitting ll which extends at right angles under the flat top of the seat, to the pressure chamber 112%. and thence through the de livery pipe llfto'the nozzle. If desired however, this pressure chamber may be omitted both from this as well asfrom that form of invention shown in Fig. 1.

At the end of the downward stroke of the piston, the operator, who has permitted his entire weight to be carried by the seat 6,

rests upon his feetand in returning to an erect position, carries up, with him the seat 6 and piston 4 through the medium of the band 18 The act ofthus raising said piston again causes the cylinder 3 to be filled with liquid from the interior of the tank 1, andany air or liquid trapped above the piston flows back into said tank through the top openings 10, so that after the piston has been 7 brought to ,the upper end of its stroke, the

operator may again rest his weight on the 7 seat with the results above noted.

If desired, side handles 21 may be provided for the seat 6 to permit of its being vmanually'moved to its upper or raised posilVith this arrangement of parts and method of operation it is possible to deliver a stream from the nozzle 16 with relatively great force and throw it for a considerable distance since there is a constant pressure exerted upon the liquid in the cylinder and this is much greater than it would ordinarily be possible to exert if the piston l- \KGlfi operated by hand-power in the customary manner. Moreover the con:-;truction illustrated involves the trapping of a body of air in the top of the hollow seat t). or, in that form of the invention shown in Fig. 3, within the pressure tank 12, and this is put under pressure as the seat is forced down so that during the return or upward stroke of the seat and piston, such air e.\- pands and continues the discharge of liquid which may have accumulated in the hollow seat or in the lower part of said pressure tank. In the latter case I preferably provide a valve 25 in the conduit ll adjacent the tank 12. so that before beginning the delivery of liquid said conduit may be closed and air under any desired pressure be accumulated in the said pressure tank. Thereafter when the valve 25 is opened and the pump is operated as described. the liquid is delivered in a stream steadier than would otherwise be the case. In some cases. without departing from my invention. both the band 18 and the handles 2.1 may be omitted. and the seat 6 and piston l moved upwardly at the end of each downward stroke by :1 lifting force applied to the delivery conduit at a point immediately adjacent said seat. in which case the relatively rigid fitting or upper end of said conduit serves as the equivalent of the handle or other raising means.

In that form of my invention shown in Fig. el. I have fixed the cylinder 3 to :1 base structure 26 so that the pump with the operators seat (3 may be utilized as a self supporting structure independently of the liquid-containing or supply tank. This latter may be placed at any convenient point and may be an open or a closed container to suit any particular case, there being a supply pipe 27 running from it and connected to the lower end of the cylinder.

In order to cause the liquid to be delivered through the conduit 11 at a super pressure in excess of that due to the weight of the operator, I provide projecting handles on the cylinder in the form of oppositely extending bars 2% which may be utilized by the operator after he has seated himself on the raised seat, to force down the piston and discharge the liquid in the cylinder under the increased pressure desired.

If desired I may combine a pressure chamber 12 with the cylinder 3 as shown in Fig. 5, for which purpose these elements are coaxially mounted and so arranged that the The cylinder immediately above this valve communicates through the check valve 7 with the bottom of the pressure chamber and the conduit 11 leads from the bottom of the latter. In this instance the piston rod 5 is solid and as in the other forms of my invention, carries a seat 6 utilized as heretofore described to allow an operator to employ either his weight, or to supplement his weight by muscular effort, to forcibly deliver a stream or spray of liquid with much greater force than is possible with hand operated pumps of the ordinary construction.

By the constructions illustrated the entire weight of the body may be utilized as a propelling force on the liquid through the whole of each downward stroke [of the pump, and it is thus possible to deliver a stream at a more even pressure than would be the case a with a pump operated by'hand in the cus tomary manner, so that a greater portion of the liquid constituting said stream will reach a fixed point. It is further to be noted that an important advantage resulting from the construction described arises from the fact that both hands of the operator are available for directing the stream discharged from the nozzle 16, although even if but one hand were so employed it would be possible to accurately deliver the stream, since the body of the operator is relatively motionless and there is no tendency to divert his aimas is the case where the pump has to be operated by hand.

In case it is desired to employ my device where the ground surface is uneven or inclined, I may mount an extension 30 on the bottom of the tank 1, which while not seriously interfering with its stability on a level surface, will coact with one side of the bottom of said tank to hold it in a position approaching the perpendicular on an inclined surface.

l. The combination of a liquid-containing tank; a pump connected to receive liquid from said tank; a seat connected to the plunger of said pump; and a delivery conduit for the liquid discharged by the pump.

2. The combination of a liquid-containing tank; a pump mounted therein with its piston rod extended through the top thereof; an operators seat mounted 011 said piston rod; and a conduit for directing the liquid delivered from said pump.

3. The combination of a liquid-containing tank; a pump mounted therein; a movable seat guided by said tank and connected to actuate the moving element of said pump;

with a conduit for directing the liquid delivered by the pump.

4;. The combination of a liquid-containing tank; a cylinder; a piston operative in the cylinder; a rod connected to the piston and extending out of the tank; an operators seat connected to said piston rod; with a delivery conduit connected to the seat and to the interior of the cylinder for directing the 7 liquid delivered by said pump.

5. The combination of a liquid-containing tank; a pump therein; a vertically movable operators seat connected to actuate said pump; and means for raising the seat after it has been moved downwardly.

6. The combination of a pump and an operators seat connected to the movable ele ment of said pump for actuating the same.

7. The combination of a pump including a cylinder, a piston and a piston rod; and an operators seat mounted on said piston rod.

. 8. The combination of a pump; a seat connected to the movable element of the pump for utilizing the weight of an operator to actuate said element; and handles positioned on the fixed pump element to be grasped by an operator on the seat.

9. The combination of a pump; a vertically movable operators seat connected to actuate said pump; and means for raising actuate said pump; and means for raising the seat after it has been moved downwardly consisting of a band attached to the seat for connecting it to the operator thereon.

11. The combination of a cylinder; a piston in the cylinder; a tubular rod connected to the piston; a hollow operators seat mounted on the rod and communicating therethrough with the interior of the cylinder; and a delivery conduit connected to receive liquid from the hollow seat.

12. The combination of a pump; an opcrators seat mechanically connected to the piston of the pump; a delivery conduit connected to the seat and also connected to receive liquid from the cylinder of the pump with a pressure chamber connected between the pump and the delivery conduit.

13. The combination of a pump including a cylinder; a piston and piston rod; a seat mounted on the movable element of said pump for utilizing the weight of an open ator to actuate said element; and means for raising the seat after it has been moved down, consisting of a device for connecting it to operator.

CHARLES R. ALEXANDER.

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